Holding device



July 1" 7, 1923- s. s. M'ATTHES HOLDING DEVICE Filed May 27 1922 Patented July 17, 1923.

H t, 1 L i,

f issue 1 SAlVIUEL S. MATTERS, OF MANSFIELD, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO THE OHIO BRASS COMPANY, OF MANSFIELD, OHIO, A. CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

HOLDING DEVICE.

Application filed May 27,

To all 4.0710122, it may concern:

-Be it known that I, SAMUEL S. MATTHES,

a citizen of the United States of America,

residing at Mansfield, in the county of Richland and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in 2. Holding Device, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to supporting device for electric conductors and more particular- 1y to the clamping means by which the conductor is secured to the device and has particular application to such devices as seetional .insulators, trolley frogs, trolley wire splicers, etc.

The object of my invention is to provide ameans for gripping the trolley wire in supports for the same whereby increased strain tending to pull the trolley wire from the device will tend to increase the holding power and therefore increase the resistance to the pulling out of the trolley wire.

My invention resides in the novel con- 5 struction, combination and relation of the parts hereinafter described and disclosed in the drawing accompanying this specification in which:

Figure 1 is a sectional view of my invention as applied to what is known as a sectional insulator for trolley conductors.

Fig. 2 is a sectional view of my invention on the line 22 of Fig. 1. i

Fig. 3 is a section on the line 38 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a side view in elevation of Fig.2.

WVhile my invention is applicable, as already stated, to various supporting devices for trolley wires, 1 have shown and will therefore describeit as applied toa sectional insulator, but I am not claiming any features of novelty, in so far as. the sectional insulator is concerned.

In Fig. 1 I have shown an insulating bar 1 made of wood or other insulating material.

To this bar 1 is secured a metallic end piece 2 by means of the screw 3 and a throughbolt 4:. The lower edge of the metallic end piece is provided with a portion 5 to act as 1922. Serial No. 564,169.

a guide for the passage of the current collector. The metallic end piece is also provided with a cam member 6 which is old in the art and is adapted to force the trolley conductor 7 into place and maintain it there. The metallic end piece 2 is provided with a 5 groove 8 to receive the trolley conductor and, as already pointed out, the cam memher 6 forces the trolley wire into the bottom of this groove. While the cam member 6 may have some degree of holding power o this is not suflicient to prevent the with drawal of the trolley wire from the metallic end piece 2 when the trolley wire is drawn up to a sufiicient tension, therefore I provide further means for assuring a permanent connection of the trolley wire with the end member 2. Herein rests my invention. The metallic end piece 2 is provided with lugs 99 and having threaded recesses 10-10. I also provide the clamping member 11 provided with orifices 12-12 whose spacing corresponds with the spacing of the threaded orifices 101() of the lugs 9--9. The clamping member 11 is provided with a tongue 13, the lower face of which is adapted to engage with the trolley conductor 7 and is orovided with serrations or teeth 14. The serrations 1 1 are formed on a concavo convex surface of the tongue 13 and have a radius equal to that indicated so by the line B. The upper surface 15 of the member 11 is also shown as convex. The clamping member 11 is held in place by means of the cap screws 16-16. By referring to Figure 1 it will be noted that the orifice is in a true cylindrical passage 1 through the clamping member, but is elongated in the direction in which the trolley wire extends. This will permit the cl-amping member 11 to rock relatively to the cap screws 16 about the pointF as a fulcrum. Since the curvature of the face of the clamping member 11, which engages the trolley conductor, is greater than the distance from theiunder face of the cap screw to the trolley conductor, the clamping memher will act as acam when rocked about the fulcrum F, and thereby tend to increase the gripping effect upon the conductor. Therefore, any increased strain in the conductor 7 tending to pull it out from under the clamping member 11 will rock the member 11 about the fulcrum point F and increase automatically the pressure exerted upon the trolley wire to hold it in position. The engaging. face of the member 11 being serrated, the rocking of the member 11 about the fulcrum point F is made positive.

Another feature of advantage in my clamping device is that it may be made adjustable with respect to the bottom of the groove 8 which receives the trolley conductor. It is well known that the trolley conductors vary considerably in size, de pending upon their capacity, therefore, there is considerable advantage in having a clamping member of the cam type in-which the fulcrum point may be varied with regard to the bottom, of the groove, depending on the size of wire used. Another advantage of my invention is that it can be employed as asimple clamp by tightening the clamping member upon the trolley conductor as much as required by means of the screws 16--16, thereby moving the clamping member in a direct line along the aXis 2-2 of the members 16-16 toward or away from the body member. which may be required in excess of that produced by the cap screws 1616 will be supplied through the cam action already described.

It will be appreciated that my invention comprises an adjustable cam for holding a trolley conductor in position, the fulcrum point of the cam being variable with respect to the bottom of the groove, thereby permitting the clamping device to adapt itself to various sites of conductors without Chang ing its relation to the conductor regardless of its size within the limits of the device. Most cans for this class of apparatus have their pivotal point fixed and, therefore. cannot be adjusted and are therefore limited as to the sizes of wire which they will efficiently clamp. s

It will be quite evident that one skilled in the art will be able to devise various modificati'ons of my invention and which will fall within the scope of my invention and, therefore, I do not wish to be limited other than by my claims.

I claim;

1, A holding device comprising a body 'memb'er and a clamping member, holding means disposed on oppositesides of the clamping member to maintain the clamping member in position, means on the clamping member engaging means on the holding means to permit the clamping member to pivot" aboutthe point of engagement as a fulcrum andmeans on the holding means for ad ust ng the pivotal point of engage- Any additional gripping force ment of the clamping member towards or away from the body member.

2. A holding device comprising a. body member and a clamping member provided with a cam face to engage a wire and a fulcrum point and means to move the fulcrum point towards or away from the body memher and maintain the fulcrum point at a pre determined distance from the body member.

3. A holding device comprising a body member and a clamping member provided with a fulcrum point and a cam face and adjustable means disposed on opposite sides of the clamping member tomove the fulcrum point and the cam face towards or away from the body member and maintain them at a predetermined distance from the body member.

,4. A holding device comprising a body member and a clamping member arranged to grip a wire placed therebetw'een, the clamping member provided with a cam face to engage the wire and a fulcrum point about which the cam face pivots and means to engage the clamping member at its fulcrum point and having means to adjust the cam face towards or away from the wire.

5. A holding device comprising a body member, a clamping member to grip a wire and holding means positioned onopposite sides of the wire; the clamping member having means engaging the holding means and permitting the clamping member to pivot about said point of engagement, the clamping member having also a convex face to engage the wire to be gripped and so curved as to automatically move towards or away from the wire as the clamping member pivots about its fulcrum point'due to increased stress upon the wire.

6. A holding device comprising a body member, a clamping member and holding means; the clamping member having a curved face to engage a wire and to hold it against anincrease in withdrawing stress, and a pivotal point of engagement with'the holding means, the radius of curvature of the curved face at any point being greater than the shortest distance'between the pivotal point and any point on the curved face.

7. A holding device comprising-a body member, a clamping member and holding means; the clamping member having a curved face to engage a wire and having a pivotal point of engagement with the holding means, the wire extending in the direction of movement of the clamping member about its pivotal point and the radius of curvature of the curved face of the clamping member at any point being greater than the shortest distance between the pivotal point and any point on the curved face to automatically increase the grip on the wire with increased stress thereon and the said holding means having means to adjust the distance between the pivotal point and the wire.

8. A holding device comprising a body member, a clamping member to cooperate with the body member and having means to grip an article therebetween and holding means secured to the body member and having means engaging the clamping member about which point of engagement the clamping member may pivot and thereby increase the grip of the clamping member on the article.

9. A holding device comprising a body member, a clamping member to cooperate with the body member and having means to grip an article therebetween and holding means secured'to the body member and having means engaging the clamping member about which point of engagement the clamping member may pivot and thereby increase the grip of the clamping member on the article and means on the holding means to adjust the pivotal point relative to the body member.

10. A holding device comprising a body member, a clamping member provided with a cam surface to cooperate with the body member to grip a wire therebetween, and holding means cooperating with the clamping member to form a fulcrum point about which the clamping member may pivot in the longitudinal direction of the wire and means on the holding means cooperating with the body member to adjust the clamping member relative to the body member.

11. A holding device comprising'a body member and a clamping member to hold a wire therebetween and holding means positioned on each side of the wire; the clamping member having means to engage the wire to be held and a fulcrum point engaging the holding means and means on the holding means whereby the clamping member may be adjusted relative to the body member.

12. A holding device for a wire comprising a body member, a pivotally mounted clamping member having its pivotal point movable relative to the body member, means to move the clamping member into strong engagement with the wire to resist its removal and to simultaneously move its pivotal point towards the wire, and means on the clamping member to automatically increase the resistance to the removal of the Wire as required.

13. A holding device arranged to grip an article comprising a body member and a pivotally mounted clamping member provided with engaging means, manually operated means to move the clamping member'and its pivotal point towards the body member and hold it against movement away from the body member and means on the clamping member cooperating with the manually operated means to automatically move the engaging meanstowards the body member to increase the grip of the holding device upon the article to be held.

14. A holding device comprising a body member having a groove to receive an article to be gripped, lugs extending from the body member and having threaded orifices, a clamping member having orifices coinciding in spacing to the body-orifices, threaded means passing through the clamping member-orifices and coacting with the threads of the body-orifices and having means to en gage the clamping member to move it towards the body member, hold it in a predetermined relation to the body member and permit the clamping member to pivot about the point of engagement and means on the clamping member to enter the body-groove to engage and grip the article.

15. A holding device comprising a body member having a groove to receive an article to be gripped, lugs extending from the body member and having orifices, a clamping member having orifices spaced to coincide with the body-orifices, engaging means on the clamping member to engage the article to be gripped, means co-acting with theclamping member and the orifices for holding the engaging means in engagement with the article to be gripped and means on the clamping member to engage means on the holding means to permit the clamp ing means to rotate about the point of en gagement and automatically move the engaging means on the clamping member towards the article.

16. A holding device comprising a pair of clamping members to grip an article, holding means for moving one of the clamp ing members bodily toward the other to grip the article and means for moving one of the clamping members toward the other to grip the article by rotating said clamping member relative to the other clamping member.

17. A holding device comprising a pair of clamping members to grip an article, manually. operated means acting as a piv-. otal point about which one of the clamping members pivots to move one of the clamping members toward the other and hold it in a predetermined position and automatic,

the force tending to Withdraw the article from the device is increased.

19. A holding device comprising a. body member and a pivotally mounted clamping 5 member to rotate about the pivotal point to automatically grip a Wire therebetween depending upon the stress upon the Wire tending to Withdraw it from the device and means foradjusting the pivotal point to- Ward or away from the body member. 10 In testimony whereof I affix my signa-' ture. v

SAMUEL s. MATTHES. 

